LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Gordon Campbell: On The Coup Against Local Government
Lianne Dalziel (Newsroom): The real regional reform hidden behind scrapping of councils
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): The developer who inadvertently demolished the regional councils
Herald Editorial: Regional council proposal needs to strike a fine balance (paywalled)
Campbell Barry (Post): Reforms set out clearer pathway – whether councils like it or not (paywalled)
Reynold Macpherson (Rotorua Daily Post/Herald): Regional council reform plan has no guarantee for ratepayers (paywalled)
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Is the regional council reboot a government power grab in disguise?
Justin Wong (Post): Metro Water hires inaugural chief executive for Wellington (paywalled)
RNZ: Businesses outraged at local board vote against having more events at Auckland’s Eden Park
Andrew Patterson (Herald): Why Auckland needs a finer-grained approach to growth (paywalled)
Mark Thomas (Newsroom): Auckland – neither amazing nor dreadful
Torika Tokalau (Local Democracy Reporting): Aucklanders reject fortnightly rubbish collection trial
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Southland disability group raises issues with council bins
Local Democracy Reporting: Haast anti-chlorine campaigners push for fee waiver
PARLIAMENT, GOVERNMENT
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): ‘Watch this space – there’s more to come’: Chris Hipkins on the other tax Labour may look at (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Labour gathers for AGM as it shifts into campaign mode
Andrea Vance (Post): Labour voters back targeted GP subsidies, poll shows (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Post): Chris Hipkins says Michael Wood must regain trust of his Labour colleagues (paywalled)
Lloyd Burr (Stuff): Has Seymour’s red tape slashing actually saved the taxpayer any money?
Melanie Nelson: Will the Regulatory Standards Act be a one year wonder?
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): Underdog tale: the regulatory standards bill is law despite almost everyone hating it
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Justice Committee recommends passing Electoral Amendment Bill with some amendments
Audrey Young (Herald): A coup isn’t on the cards. Here’s what it would really take for Christopher Luxon to step aside (paywalled)
Grant Duncan: Christopher Luxon, PM – but for how long?
Martin Van Beynen (Press/Post): Rolling Luxon gathers too much dross (paywalled)
Greg Dixon (Listener): World’s most boring coup fails due to lack of interest (paywalled)
Max Harris (Post): Lessons from Zohran Mamdani’s New York win for New Zealand politics (paywalled)
Josh Van Veen (Newsroom): 50 years on, and still in Muldoon’s long shadow
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington Central Green MP Tamatha Paul to contest Wellington North (paywalled)
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Democracy Briefing: Replying to Richard Prebble’s critique of me
ABUSE IN STATE CARE, CHILD WELFARE
Jonathan Milne and Laura Walters (Newsroom): ‘Significant’ breach of privacy of Lake Alice survivors, by Crown abuse office
Julia Gabel (Herald): Abuse in Care: Lake Alice survivors’ details shared in ‘extremely serious’ privacy breach
Julia Gabel (Herald): Abuse in Care: Lake Alice survivors allocated between $160,000 and $600,000 in redress payments
Stuff: Up to $600k in compensation awarded to Lake Alice survivors who opted out of expedited process
Metiria Stanton Turei (ODT): Government punches down on survivors or state abuse (paywalled)
Michael Morrah (Herald): Lawyer Dennis Gates accuses Government of ‘double standards’ over Tom Phillips inquiry
Michael Morrah (Herald): Former Gloriavale member Clem Ready says children ‘slaves to a cult system’ despite checks (paywalled)
FAST-TRACK, MINING
Mary Williams (ODT): Santana seeking to limit submitters
Crux: ‘This must be stopped’: Sam Neill criticises gold mine proposal again
ECONOMY, OCR, RESERVE BANK
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Do rate rises in response to the OCR cut suggest the Reserve Bank bungled its comms and slowed the economy recovery? (paywalled)
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Reserve Bank Governor Christian Hawkesby comfortable, despite markets suggesting fixed mortgage rates might rise soon (paywalled)
Mandy Te (Interest) What RBNZ Monetary Policy Committee members will be watching over summer
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): Reserve Bank of New Zealand officials not opposed to greater transparency, just cautious (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Reserve Bank says inflation danger passed, sees solid growth ahead (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Rodger Finlay, key figure in Lake Onslow project, named Reserve Bank board chair (paywalled)
1News: New Reserve Bank board chairman named
Stuff: Former investment banker appointed new chair of Reserve Bank board
Andy Macdonald (BusinessDesk): Reserve Bank of New Zealand staff thin on ground after asbestos reopen (paywalled)
EDUCATION
RNZ: Maths professor says Education Minister’s claims a school trial is ‘groundbreaking’ is problematic
Michael Daly (Stuff): Ministry of Education rejects principals’ claim maths trial was ‘designed to present groundbreaking results’
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Maths teaching programme to be rolled out to 13,000 students nationwide
Layla Bailey-McDowell (RNZ): Advocate rejects MPs claims schools were pressured to reaffirm commitment to Te Tiriti
1News: Advocate fires back at Minister over ‘disgusting’ schools Te Tiriti list
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Secondary school teachers to vote on potential settlement of troubled pay talks
David Seymour (Post): Who the Government is listening to on early childhood education (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: A for effort (paywalled)
Derek Cheng & Chris Knox (Herald): How does your school rate? NCEA, UE results at every college - ranked (paywalled)
ASSET SALES, PRIVATISATION, CAPITAL GAINS TAX
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Science company privatised by Ardern Government now owned by defence firm courting sale of ‘lethal’ arms to Israel (paywalled)
Laszlo Szollosi-Cira: The Aspects of Capital Gains Tax that Annoy the Labour Party
Rebecca Stevenson (BusinessDesk): Ports and airports in demand: why councils should consider NZX listings (paywalled)
KIWISAVER, SUPER
Anna Whyte (Post): National admits KiwiSaver changes may affect public sector pay (paywalled)
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Luxon’s KiwiSaver move is good, now raise the Super age (paywalled)
Roger Partridge (Herald): What did NZ do with the trillion dollars we could have had in retirement savings? (paywalled)
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Matching Aussie Super ‘impossible without major KiwiSaver overhaul’
TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE
Tom Hunt (Post): $535 an hour for NZTA consultant amid ‘gravy train’ clampdown (paywalled)
Cathrine Dyer (Newsroom): Clean car standard tinkering an incoherent misstep
Jack Riddell (Hawkes Bay Today/Herald): MP says Government wants e-scooters to move into cycle lanes as injury costs soar (paywalled)
Samuel Sherry (Herald): 459 truck licences cancelled after NZTA audit finds fraudulent conversions
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Growing up in public: Air NZ’s Nikhil Ravishankar (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Airports and Jetstar bite back at Air New Zealand subsidy claim (paywalled)
POLICE, JUSTICE, CRIME
Alexander Plum (The Conversation): Māori face harsher sentences than NZ Europeans for similar drink-driving offences – with lasting consequences
David Farrar: 27,000 fewer Maori are victims of violent crime
Gill Bonnett (NRZ): Why convicted drug smuggler Karel Šroubek still hasn’t been deported
Justin Wong (Post): Billions of dirty money awash world’s leading crypto firms (paywalled)
PHILLIPS INQUIRY
RNZ: Tom Phillips’ family welcome government inquiry into case
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Inquiry into Phillips children’s disappearance announced: What will be investigated
Henry Cooke (Post): Government announces narrow inquiry into Tom Phillips matter (paywalled)
1News: Marokopa: Public inquiry to be held into disappearance of Phillips children
Mahvash Ikram (LawNews): The Tom Phillips affair: a not-so-public ‘public’ inquiry
Stuff: Government announces public inquiry into disappearance of Tom Phillips’ children
HEALTH
Sharon Brettkelly (RNZ): The Detail: Health Minister Simeon Brown demands revamped decision-making from Health NZ
Fiona Cassie (NZ Doctor): Bill on way to give minister more power to direct health workforce (paywalled)
Ruth Hill (RNZ): ‘Hidden’ workforce shortages in hospitals add to frontline pressures
Ruth Hill (RNZ): 17,000 healthworkers strike for the second time in a month
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Wellington Hospitals waiting up to six months for Health NZ approval to recruit
CLIMATE CHANGE, CONSERVATION, ENVIRONMENT
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Have climate policies put trade at risk? Trade Minister Todd McClay responds
No Right Turn: Climate Change: Failure and fraud
Christine Rose: Hoiho and Hector’s dolphins - icons of the metacrisis
RNZ: Marine researchers find biggest source of microplastics in our ocean is vehicle tyres
Alexa Cook (RNZ): Study discovers wells containing 40,000-year-old groundwater, warns of taking too much water
Justin Wong (Post): Public consultation ordered for controversial waste station (paywalled)
HOUSING, BUILDING
Tim Hunter (NBR): Progress on building warranties, but there’s more work to do (paywalled)
RNZ: Dunedin City Council will ask for interest to set up housing outreach service
Libby Kirkby-McLeod (RNZ): Proposed Waikato housing subdivision sparks land occupation
Newstalk ZB: House price outlook: Where the Reserve Bank sees house prices going
INSURANCE
Annemarie Quill (Stuff): ‘Horrified - doubled overnight’: Price hikes force people to rethink health insurance
Rob Stock (Post): Tower’s ‘very high’ return on equity doesn’t mean premiums have been raised too far, CEO says
Rob Stock (Post): Tower records leap in after-tax profit, insurer targets ‘low risk’ homeowners for growth (paywalled)
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): Tower insists customers are getting a competitive deal (paywalled)
Rebecca Stevenson (BusinessDesk): Tower Insurance says average house insurance premiums have fallen due to risk-based pricing (paywalled)
BUSINESS, CONSUMER AFFAIRS, PRODUCT SAFETY
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Eleventh hour attempt by business groups to convince government not to ban surcharging, suggest capping them instead
Georgie Craw (Post): Asbestos in play sand tells us that our economy is valuing the wrong things (paywalled)
Kim Baker Wilson (RNZ): Principals stunned no tally kept of schools testing positive for asbestos from coloured play sand
RNZ: Govt cuts red tape for businesses developing new drones
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, TRADE
Richard Harman: Our Chinese puzzle (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Russian oil: BP declines to detail its practices, Mobil more forthright following focus on Z (paywalled)
RNZ: New Zealand’s biggest navy ship made transit through sensitive Taiwan Strait this month
Thomas Manch (BusinessDesk): Cabinet agrees to $15b defence infrastructure plan (paywalled)
CARTOONS